Research Methodology
ompetitiveness is a holistic concept. While economic size and growth are important and necessary, several other factors help determine a city’s competitiveness as well, including its business and regulatory environment, the quality of human capital and cultural aspects. These factors not only help a city sustain high economic growth rates, but also create a stable and harmonious business and social environment.
Against this backdrop, we define ‘competitiveness’ as the demonstrated ability to attract capital, businesses, talent and visitors. We assessed 120 cities across the world and examined 31 indicators for each city. Indicators were grouped under eight distinct, thematic categories: economic strength, human capital, institutional effectiveness, financial maturity, global appeal, physical capital, environment and natural hazards, and social and cultural character. There are 21 qualitative and 10 quantitative indicators.
A city’s overall ranking in the benchmark index is a weighted score of the underlying categories. For a full breakdown of the categories, individual indicators, weightings and data sources, see the appendix.
Our research drew on two main initiatives:
- A unique Index that compares 120 of the world’s major urban agglomerations across eight distinct categories of competitiveness and 31 individual indicators. These cities collectively represent about 29% of the global economy, with a combined GDP of US$20.24tr. A detailed note on definitions and methodology is provided in the appendix.
- We conducted in-depth interviews with ten city experts, mayors and corporate executives, to get their insights on city competitiveness.
